1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a test method and apparatus by which a test mode and an on-line mode are changed in a distributed system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The official gazette of Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 146361/1982 discloses a method by which, in a distributed processing system wherein the series of processes of one task are executed in distributed fashion by a plurality of processors connected to a common transmission line, a program for executing each of the series of processes is started when data items necessary for the execution of the program have all been accepted from the transmission line into the own processor. This method permits the respective processors to distributively perform the corresponding ones of the series of processes without the necessity of a management processor for managing the whole system. However, it does not include means for testing an application program developed so as to be set in each processor, by the use of on-line data, and deciding the normality or abnormality thereof in the on-line environment concerned.
Some conventional systems other than the distributed processing system include means for collecting the processed result data of programs. The function of the means, however, is to merely take the logarithm of the data in time series and has been unsatisfactory for analyzing a test start result by the use of the collected results.
Further, in a case where a test has been conducted with on-line data, another subsystem receiving the result of the test might have a process within the own subsystem influenced by the received test result. Accordingly, it needs to be considered that the test is realized with the on-line data without affecting any other part.
Also, a case needs to be considered where a subsystem found normal as the result of the test is desired to be immediately incorporated into the system and then operated.